Purdue acceptance rate and admissions statistics
Purdue admitted 37,881 of 87,220 first-year applicants in its 2025-26 Common Data Set, an official acceptance rate of 43.4%. Every number below comes from the college’s own Common Data Set, each year linked to its document; a figure the college leaves blank says “Not published”, and the notes at the foot of the page say where a total is the sum of rows the college printed.
What did admitted applicants have? How to get into Purdue counts the grades, scores and activities they posted.
Purdue acceptance rate by year
| CDS year | Applied | Admitted | Acceptance rate | Enrolled | Yield |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 87,220 | 37,881 | 43.4% | 9,656 | 25.5% |
| 2024-25 | 78,745 | 39,272 | 49.9% | 11,467 | 29.2% |
| 2023-24 | 72,800 | 36,602 | 50.3% | 9,285 | 25.4% |
Acceptance rate is admitted divided by applied; yield is enrolled divided by admitted. Both are computed by Aristo Scholars from the two counts printed beside them.
Early decision at Purdue
Early decision counts: Not published. Purdue’s Common Data Set prints no early decision applicant or admit counts (section C21) for any year shown.
Purdue waitlist
Purdue SAT and ACT scores
What Purdue says matters in admission
In section C7 each college rates its own admission factors as Very Important, Important, Considered or Not Considered. These are the factors Purdue rated in the top two tiers.
- 2025-26
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Academic GPA, Application essay
- Important: Standardized test scores, Recommendations, Extracurricular activities, Character/personal qualities, First generation
- 2024-25
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Academic GPA, Standardized test scores
- Important: Application essay, Recommendations, Extracurricular activities, Character/personal qualities, First generation
- 2023-24
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Academic GPA, Standardized test scores
- Important: Recommendations, Application essay, Extracurricular activities, Character/personal qualities, First generation
Purdue testing policy for students applying in 2026-27
Purdue expects applicants to have SAT, ACT or CLT scores. In exceptional cases where a student could not test, the application may still be submitted.
From Purdue’s admissions site, read 2026-11-05. Policies change; the college’s page is the authority.
How these numbers were read
Purdue has no early decision plan. The 2024-25 C1 prints an admitted total of 30,272, but its gender rows and its residency rows both sum to 39,272, which is the figure shown. The share submitting an SAT is printed as a decimal and shown as a percent.
Purdue acceptance rate questions
- What is the Purdue acceptance rate?
- Purdue's Common Data Set for 2025-26 reports 87,220 first-year applicants and 37,881 admitted, an acceptance rate of 43.4%. It was 49.9% in 2024-25 and 50.3% in 2023-24.
- What SAT scores do Purdue students have?
- In 2025-26, the middle half of enrolled first-year students who submitted the SAT scored 1220 to 1470, and ACT submitters scored 28 to 34. 83.8% of enrolled students submitted an SAT score.
- How many students get off the Purdue waitlist?
- In 2025-26, Purdue offered 8,981 applicants a place on the waitlist; 4,047 accepted one, and 3,916 were admitted from it.
- Does Purdue require the SAT or ACT for students applying in 2026-27?
- Purdue expects applicants to have SAT, ACT or CLT scores. In exceptional cases where a student could not test, the application may still be submitted.
Applying to Purdue?
An acceptance rate describes the whole pool, not one student. A Specialist can read your student’s file against what Purdue says it weighs.
Source: Purdue Common Data Set, sections C1, C2, C7, C9 and C21, each year linked above, read 2026-11-05. Aristo Scholars is not affiliated with Purdue. All official acceptance rates